On World Tsunami Day, Japanese high school students at U.N. share lessons learned from disasters
Two Japanese high school students stressed on Tuesday the importance of sharing lessons learned from past disasters at a panel discussion to mark World Tsunami Awareness Day, held at the U.N. headquarters in New York. The two students from Sapporo, who experienced a powerful earthquake ...
Hokkaido Ainu association sues University of Tokyo to have remains returned
An Ainu indigenous rights association in Hokkaido has filed a lawsuit against the University of Tokyo, seeking the return of remains of their ancestors stored at the university. In the suit filed Friday at the Kushiro District Court, the Urahoro branch of the Ainu Association ...
Hokkaido town of Kutchan in Niseko ski region introduces Japan's first fixed-rate lodging tax
The 2 percent levy will apply to all facilities, including private lodgings, and is expected to bring the town an extra ¥300 million ($2.76 million) in revenue.
Japan's shrine meant to celebrate Hokkaido's Ainu divides them
On a wooded lake shore in southwest Hokkaido, the government is building a modernist shrine that has divided the indigenous Ainu community whose vanishing culture it was designed to celebrate. At a cost so far of ¥20 billion, the Symbolic Space for Ethnic Harmony is ...
Dwindling catches and soaring prices spell trouble for Hokkaido's 'squid town'
As wholesale prices skyrocket for Pacific flying squid amid a record low catch in Japan, processing companies in the "squid town" of Hakodate, Hokkaido, are scrambling to stay afloat. The squid shortage, caused by fluctuations in ocean temperatures, years of overfishing and lenient regulations, has ...
Japanese tourists' trial tour of Russian-held islands off Hokkaido begins
Japanese tourists on Wednesday began a visit to two disputed Russian-held islands off Hokkaido, as part of joint economic activities by the Japanese and Russian governments that are intended to build trust. The five-day trial tour by 44 people including government officials will take participants ...
G20 ministers vow to address issue of 'over-tourism' at Hokkaido meeting
Tourism ministers from the Group of 20 leading industrialized nations and emerging economies agreed Saturday to step up efforts to address friction between visitors and local residents and the destruction of nature through what is called 'over-tourism.' In a declaration issued after a two-day meeting ...
Sapporo High Court rules July election is in 'state of unconstitutionality' due to vote disparity
The Sapporo High Court ruled Thursday that July's Upper House election was in a "state of unconstitutionality" due to a disparity in the value of a vote between the most and least-populated constituencies, with some being worth up to three times more. But the court ...
Muroran community spot fosters international diversity in Hokkaido
A community space in Muroran, Hokkaido, is connecting residents with others on the island who hail from countries as diverse as Thailand, Canada, South Korea and the United States. Once a month, they gather to take part in a so-called English Night where they can ...
IOC planning to move Tokyo Olympic marathon north to Sapporo in bid to avoid heat
The plan is the latest in a series of countermeasures being taken to protect athletes, spectators and volunteers from the nation’s infamously hot summer heat.
Trial tour to Russian-controlled isles for Japanese visitors postponed
The Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that a planned trial sightseeing tour to two Russian-held islands off Hokkaido had been postponed. The eight-day tour, organized for Japanese citizens by the Japanese and Russian governments as part of the two countries' joint economic activities on the disputed ...
Gift of good luck: Japan loans rare marimo moss balls to Taiwan
The Taipei Zoo has received four rare, naturally formed marimo moss balls on loan from the city of Kushiro, Hokkaido, in Japan's first such arrangement through cooperative conservation programs, zoo officials said on Monday. The city has lent a total of seven marimo to the ...
